You must have seen the SHIVALINGA in Hindu temples; that is a symbol. Just below that LINGA IS the YONI, the feminine part; it is a symbol of the inner man and woman meeting. It is not just phallic as Freudians will interpret it, it is symbolic; it symbolizes the inner polarity.

And once this meeting has happened, you are born anew. When Jesus says to Nicodemus, 'Unless you are born again...' this is what he means. I don't know what Christians say and I don't care either, but this is what he means. 'Unless you are born again...'. This is the birth he means. And this is what Hindus call DWIJA, twice-born: you have given birth to yourself. If the outer man meets with the outer woman you create a child, you reproduce. If the inner man meets the inner woman you again create a child, but you are the parent and you are the child. A new life begins in you, the life of a Buddha, the life of enlightenment, the life of deathlessness.

You must have seen Shiva temples in India; you must have seen the SHIVALINGA. SHIVALINGA simply represents the orgasmic state of these two lovers. SHIVALINGA simply represents Shiva as masculine energy; and just below SHIVALINGA -- the phallic symbol -- is the symbol of Shakti: YONI. SHIVALINGA and Shakti's YONI are meeting; they have become one, they have disappeared into each other. They have lost ALL personality. That's why it is the only image in the world which has no face.

Just pure energy is symbolized by LINGA and YONI, by the male sexual organ and the female sexual organ. Simply energy is represented -- creative energy, vital energy; energy out of which the whole of life flows. Neither does Shakti have any face nor does Shiva have any face; those faces are no more meaningful, the personalities have disappeared. It is a meeting of pure energy, and only pure energies can dissolve into each other -- because if you have a solid personality it will obstruct dissolution. Only pure energies, liquid, can enter into each other and become one. If you put two rocks together, they may be together but they cannot become one. But if you pour water into water, it becomes one.

At this highest peak where all the seven centers meet, persons disappear, only energies remain, a play of energy, a play of consciousness. And the joy is constant, it is orgasmic. It is a spiritual communion. No meditation is needed for such a couple -- because for such a couple love is meditation enough. It is a mystic phenomenon, it is transcendental. But it is very rare. Amongst millions and millions of people, once it will happen. It will be almost a chance meeting.

Below it, there is another meeting: six centers meeting. That too is rare. If the first is one percent, the second is only two percent. It is union, not unity. It is not a cosmic, mystical union, but still something very close to it -- an aesthetic union, an artistic phenomenon, a poetic experience.

The Shivalinga is not a poetry, it is an experience. When the tidal flood of energy fills your whole body and your each and every cell is thrilled, then you will see around you a circle of light in the shape of Shivalinga and you will experience the substance of your entire body disappearing into that lightform. Only an egg-shaped form of light will remain. No eyes, no nose, no hands... all will disappear. This is the shape of your soul -- this shining egg-shaped form.

Shiva is saying: the body is a product of nature and your will to do. The nature is merely the source, the womb. Your ego functions like a seed in it. Your will to do this or that, to achieve this or that, to become this or that -- acts like a seed. And the moment the art of your doing meets the womb of nature, a body is formed. Therefore, Give up all desires, only then will you be liberated. If you desired for heaven, you will become an angel, but that won't be liberation either. Because as long as desires persist, there can never be any liberation. All desires lead to the formation of bodies. So as long as you have not attained to desirelessness, as long as you have not renounced desires completely, you will go on taking births and wandering in different bodies.